1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wrapping of articles with a stretchable plastic material and more specifically to a method and apparatus for wrapping a plurality of metal tubes with a stretchable plastic material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to wrap various articles of various shapes with stretchable plastic film such as polyethylene or the like. Generally, in the prior art the wrapping of such items has been accomplished in one of two ways. The first is to pass the object, particularly an elongated object to be wrapped through a machine which is constructed in the form essentially of a cage. On the outer portion of the cage there is positioned a roll of stretchable plastic wrapping material and the cage is caused to rotate around the object to be wrapped. As the cage rotates, the film passes around the object to cause the object to be wrapped. Either the cage is caused to move along the length of the elongated object or alternatively, the cage remains essentially longitudinally stationary while it rotates and the elongated object to be wrapped is moved through the center of the cage thus distributing the wrapping material along the length of the elongated object.
The other type of film wrapping or stretch wrapping apparatus is referred to as pallet wrapping. In this type of structure a pallet is positioned in the center of the wrapping machine and the pallet with the object to be wrapped is then rotated causing the film to be pulled from a roll or magazine thereof causing the wrapping material to surround the object. In either instance, such wrapping machines are cumbersome, take up a lot of space, are not portable and are difficult to operate.
There is thus a need for an apparatus which is essentially portable, takes up a minimum of space and is easy to use to wrap elongated objects such as a plurality or bundle of metallic tubes.